The Boston Bruins opened up the second round of The Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New York Islanders on Saturday. The B’s struggled against the Isles in the regular season, going 2-5-1 in the 8 games they played.
David Pastrnak arrived to the arena wearing a stylish white suit with a blue floral pattern running up the sides. Every one and their mother knew as soon as they saw that suit that Pastrnak was about to go off. Pastrnak netted his second career playoff hat trick, scoring once in all three periods. The hat trick was the 25th in Bruins playoff history. Only five players have had multiple playoff hat tricks for the Bruins, Phil Esposito (4), Cam Neely (3), Johnny Bucyk (3), David Krejci (2), and now David Pastrnak.
The Islanders would be the first to find the back of the net with a power play goal from Anthony Beauvillier. The black and gold would answer with a power play goal of their own from Pastrnak to even up the game at 1-1 at the end of the first.
The star studded first line would all get involved for Pastrnak’s second goal of the night, seeing assists from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The lead was short lived as it took the Isles a minute and 32 seconds to score the equalizing goal.
It was all Bruins for the third period. Charlie McAvoy would break the tie, Pastrnak would dangle his way for the hat trick, and Taylor Hall would find the empty net to give the Bruins a 5-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Fans were electric for the game as TD Garden welcomed back a full capacity crowd. Pastrnak would say in his post game presser about the crowd, “In warmups, it felt like 22 players playing their first NHL game, looking around at the fans… it warms your heart. It reminds you why you play this sport.”
“I was trying to enjoy the moment, look around at the crowd. It was a good moment to look around and see joy,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy remarked.
Game 2 against the Islanders will be Monday night at TD Garden. The Bruins have won five straight games and are looking to make it six on Monday.